Neoptolemus
So be it. Now stand up, and take hold of me.
Philoctetes
Do not worry, my habitual method will help me to my feet.
Neoptolemus
[895]
God! What am I to do next?
Philoctetes
What is the matter? Where strays your speech?
Neoptolemus
I do not know where to turn my tongue when my thoughts are so confused.
Philoctetes
Confused? How so? No, do not say it!
Neoptolemus
My mind is indeed brought to that condition.
Philoctetes
[900]
It cannot be that offense at my sickness has persuaded you not to take me aboard your ship?
Neoptolemus
All is offense when a man has abandoned his true nature and does what does not suit him.
Philoctetes
But you, at least, are not departing from your begetter's
[905]
example either in word or deed, when you help a man who is noble.
Neoptolemus
I shall be found to have no honor—this is the thought that long torments me.
Philoctetes
Not because of your present deeds, at least. But because of your words, I worry.
Neoptolemus
O Zeus, what shall I do? Must I be twice found base—by disloyal silence, as well as by shameful speech?
Philoctetes
[910]
Unless I am lacking in judgment, he means to betray me, leave me behind and sail away!
Neoptolemus
Leave you? No, not I. Rather, to your pain, I will bring you along. That is my torment.
Philoctetes
What do you mean, son? I do not understand.
Neoptolemus
[915]
I will conceal nothing. You must sail to Troy, back to the Achaeans and the forces of the Atreids.
Philoctetes
Ah, no! What have you said?
Neoptolemus
Do not wail in grief, before you understand!
Philoctetes
Understand what? What do you intend to do to me?
Neoptolemus
Save you, first, from this misery, and then,
[920]
together with you, go and plunder Troy's plains.
Philoctetes
And this is your true intent?
Neoptolemus
A harsh necessity governs these events, so do not be angered at hearing of them.
Philoctetes
I am destroyed—ah, misery!—betrayed! What have you done to me, stranger? Return my bow at once!
Neoptolemus
[925]
No, it is not possible. My duty and my interest alike constrain me to obey those in power.
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Sophocles. The Philoctetes of Sophocles. Edited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1898.
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